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I'm looking to start selling some prints online, giclee prints of sketches etc. I've found a place that will do reasonably priced printing but I'd like to be able to scan, touch up and prepare my images to save on time and money. Thus, I'll need a computer, some sort of graphics programme, and a scanner. Does anyone have any recommendations for any of these? I'm DEFINITELY not in Macbook budget range so it'll have to be something a bit less fancy, are there any cheaper brands that are trustworthy? The main thing I need to know is what kind of publishing (?) software to use to finalise the layout of each design so that it's ready to print to the appropriate size. Can it be done in Photoshop, or is there a better programme for something like this? If it's not painfully apparent, I'm not massively literate in these things and I'm sure I'll end up having to take some kind of remedial class in it, but I'd like to at least know what to aim at in terms of buying the stuff I need to get started.
Thanks muchly.

I' like to see what you're selling, especially if it's reasonably priced. :) I had a wander round the South Bank gallery a few weeks ago and got depressed by the prices of prints there - and if I'm honest, how talented the artists were.

I'm not particularly good but I am cheap!
I don't really have anything finished up or in a decent image format (hence the need for an entire computer set up). For what it's worth here's the last thing I drew, I took it on my phone camera so it looks a bit weird, it's also not entirely finished and was really just a little practice thing from a photograph, plus more excuses:
http://tinypic.com/r/34yqptz/5

The main thinking behind this was a charcoal sketch I did for my brother of Thierry Henry's Arsenal comeback against Leeds (username is just a coincidence). He seems to think I could make a decent bit of money if I turned out, say, 50 numbered prints on A3 and sold them for £25. The impulse is to fleece football fans, basically. I only have a framed photo of that one with very little detail.
http://tinypic.com/r/33xedlu/5

The thinking is if I have the set-up all ready I'll be motivated to do some more proper work. Investing in my future, etc.

maybe GIMP would work just as well, I haven't played with it but it's pretty much a paired down free Photoshop i think, you won't need to be using any advanced features really so it should be ok.

I think the scanner will be the main thing you'll need to investigate. I don't know anything about scanners, but I find that stuff I scan will looks different once it's been scanned, like it's not really a perfect reproduction. It's hard to tell why exactly, but it just loses something , I don't know if that can be remedied by a better scanner, mine is just one I happened to have (not purchased for this purpose).

I guess the computer doesn't really matter too much, but bear in mind the computer screen will present colours differently than how they will end up being printed, so from sketc -> scan _> photoshop -> print, might end up soemwhat draker / lighter / differnt hues etc than the original. Talk to your print shop about the best ways to remedy this.

what sizes are the sketches? can i see some? large scanners - (A2 and over I think) are ridiculously expensive

and found this advice on scanners:
http://sarah-bodera.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/best-scanner-for-watercolors.htmlI know it's watercolours but I assume the principles are the same for other mediums, and it's possible to pick this up for around £200. I'll probably have to stick to A4 for budget reasons and either take larger images to be professionally scanned or just work from digital photographs (especially stuff like charcoals which are too delicate for scanning), although getting the lighting flat and keeping the detail will be difficult I would imagine.

I downloaded GIMP, which I think you recommended on here previously, and have had some success just with basic stuff like contrast and brightness which is all I'd need really, except maybe colour correcting any images. I've only just seen that there is an option to create the image to any size needed, which will really help. In which case, I may be able to get away with that being the only programme I use.

So I guess as far as computers go, as long as it has a relatively large screen and decent specs, there's not much between them?

a bit of a fiddle with the levels and the hue/saturation controls will normally sort out any of the changes that scanning has made. That and a little bit of retouching any dust etc should be all you need to do in most cases.